More sibling rivalry in Champion

It’s musical siblings night on the Beeb – while BBC2 dedicate an evening to the Bee Gees, BBC1 brings us the second episode of Champion, a drama about the rivalry between brother and sister performers.

If you missed the opening episode, then allow the show’s writer and creator Candice Carty-Williams to set the scene.

She says: “Champion is about a brother and a sister. Bosco Champion – a rapper who’s been in prison for the last two years – and Vita Champion, his sister. Vita is his long-suffering PA and has been doing everything for Bosco; running around after him, lying for him, covering up for him – everything a PA could do and more.

“When Bosco comes back from prison the world has changed, and the world of music has changed, so what should he do? Vita has been behind the scenes keeping everything going, ready for him to come back. She wants to step up to be his manager now, but Bosco wants her to just keep doing what she’s been doing.”

She adds: “Bosco also has a rival, a drill rapper called Bulla. Vita and her friend Honey sing with Bulla and he recognises Vita’s talent… and the show unravels from there.”

As we discover in this episode, it turns out that as well as being his PA, Vita may have also made a bigger contribution to her brother’s music than she has been given credit for.

His star certainly seems to be slipping without her as the bailiffs turn up at his house. It’s left to Dawn to break it to him that until he can deliver a new single and fulfil his tour obligations, he’s broke.

Meanwhile, Vita goes into the studio, but isn’t comfortable with the track that’s been selected for her. So, she ends up performing a song she wrote for Honey instead, but she’s worried this will be seen as a betrayal. However, it seems her manager Mark has been recording more than just Vita’s music…

The music remains at the core of the drama though, and Carty-Williams was keen for it to be as authentic as possible. She says: “I think this show is special in its own right but the music is very close to me. I’m obsessed with music and I always have to listen to something. What got me into this show was the prospect of being able to make music.

“I’m not a producer but I know the producers and artists that I love, we’ve brought some of those people together to make an amazing soundtrack. Drill, rap, R&B, soul, neo-soul, reggae – we have so many things covered. That in itself was a challenge.”

The writer adds: “I didn’t want it to be a musical in that someone breaks into song, I wanted you to see people making songs in their own right. While the song might not adhere to the situation at hand when we were briefing the songs we’d give the context of the storyline.”

So, we should probably expect at least one track about sibling rivalry and complicated families.